10 dead in Egypt building collapse

2012-07-15 16:02

Cairo - Egypt's health ministry said on Sunday that rescue services had retrieved 10 bodies from under the rubble of an 11-storey building that collapsed a day earlier in the coastal city of Alexandria.

"Ten bodies have been found under the rubble of the collapsed building in Alexandria," the health ministry said, adding that the search for survivors was continuing. Five people were found alive on Sunday, it said.

"The bodies have been taken to the Kom el-Dekka morgue in Alexandria," said Ahmed al-Ansari, head of Egypt's ambulances services, in statement to the official MENA news agency.

The injured, who sustained broken bones or suffered from suffocation, are being treated in Alexandria hospitals, he said. One person was treated at the scene.

The building collapsed in Egypt's second city on Saturday, destroying three neighbouring homes, police said.

Witnesses said the building housed four families and a bakery, but could not give an overall number of tenants. Police officials said rescuers had pulled 16 injured people from the rubble on Saturday.

Egypt has seen a number of construction disasters over the years, partly owing to building violations or bad maintenance.

At least 11 people were killed in Alexandria in 2008 when a four-storey building collapsed late at night as residents slept.

That came a month after a massive rock slide buried a neighbourhood at the foot of a cliff in Cairo, killing more than 100 people.